Composer and Meritorious Artist Quoc Nam: The man who "revived the soul of the countryside"

(Baonghean) - His musical talent was discovered early on. Over 40 years of professional artistic activity, he has successfully composed and conducted many musical programs for Cai Luong opera, Nghe-Tinh folk songs, and many independent songs. However, it was only with the release of "The Vi Giam Melody is You" that musician and Meritorious Artist Quoc Nam truly became widely known to audiences both domestically and internationally, and was considered the person who "revived the soul of the countryside" through music...

Emotions soaring

Interestingly, the song "The Ví Giặm Melody is You" was composed by musician Quốc Nam based on a poem by a close friend from his high school days. Musician Quốc Nam, whose real name is Trần Quốc Nam, and poet Lê Quang Thắng (pen name Lê Văn) were classmates at Phan Đình Phùng High School (Hà Tĩnh) from around 1970 to 1972. During the war, the school was evacuated to Thạch Xuân commune, Thạch Hà district. Afterward, Quốc Nam went to Hanoi for formal musical training and returned to his hometown, while Lê Quang Thắng joined the army and then moved south to pursue his career. They occasionally meet in their hometown a couple of times a year, sharing the sentiment of "one staying, one leaving."

One summer morning in 2010, Mr. Le Quang Thang returned from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Tinh to visit his hometown and invited musician Quoc Nam to breakfast. At that meeting, Le Quang Thang presented him with a collection of poems titled "Forgetting and Remembering." While browsing through the collection, musician Quoc Nam paused at the poem "Listening to Nghe An folk songs among friends." From the very first lines, he found a connection: "Among friends of the same age and hometown / Listening to you sing Nghe An folk songs / The lullaby is like a whisper / Taking us back to the shores of our childhood..." And Quoc Nam began to ponder and "conceive" the song "The Vi Giam Melody is You."

Musician Quoc Nam (left) chatting with a reporter.

From his time as a musician, orchestra conductor, and then manager of the Ha Tinh Song and Dance Troupe, to his performances in Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau, Con Dao, the Central Highlands, and even Thailand... the people of Nghe An living far from home left a profound impression on Quoc Nam. One night in June 2010, all his thoughts and reflections converged, and all his profound experiences were inspired by the poetic spirit of the song "Listening to Nghe An folk songs among friends," leading him to write the song "The Vi Giam melody is you" in one go. He called and sang it to Le Quang Thang. Le Quang Thang was deeply moved and cried profusely like a child, because Quoc Nam had truly "revived the spirit of his homeland."

Now, "The Ví Giặm Melody Is You" has been performed by many famous artists and is included in numerous albums by People's Artist Thu Hiền, Meritorious Artist Thanh Loan, and singers such as Anh Thơ, Tố Nga, Phương Thanh, Thu Trang, Huyền Trang, Bùi Lê Mận, Nguyệt Anh, Thùy Dung... And it was this song that contributed to making the young singer Bùi Lê Mận's name familiar to the public. It can also be affirmed that Bùi Lê Mận has "cemented" her stage name with "The Ví Giặm Melody Is You," which is a blessing for both the singer and the songwriter. But before that, the person who brought "The Ví Giặm Melody Is You" to a wider audience was singer Tố Nga. From the end of 2010, Tố Nga sang and recorded audio versions of the song for the Nghệ An expatriate community in Hanoi, Saigon, and even abroad.

Almost every gathering of people from Nghe An province across the country requests to hear "The Vi Giam Melody is You." In 2012, VTV1 Television Center in Da Nang met with composer Quoc Nam to introduce "The Vi Giam Melody is You" in their New Works program. In 2014, Vietnam Television VTC1 introduced the author and the work with two singers, To Nga and Huyen Trang. Notably, "The Vi Giam Melody is You" has firmly established itself in professional singing competitions, especially at the 2013 National Television Singing Contest - Sao Mai.

Now, composer and Meritorious Artist Quoc Nam is used to the sound of the phone ringing during his lunch break or in the middle of the night. That's when, in some "time zone" in countries around the world—Poland, Russia, Germany, France, etc.—people from Nghe An are meeting up and singing "The Vi Giam Melody is You," and not forgetting to call the author to share the joy of reuniting with their homeland from afar.

The poem "Listening to Nghe An folk songs among friends" by Le Quang Thang.

Giving wings to folk songs and melodies.

Composer and Meritorious Artist Quoc Nam was born in 1952 in Bong Son neighborhood, now part of Ha Tinh City. While evacuating with his family to Thach Huong (Thach Ha district), during his secondary school years, Quoc Nam was fortunate to meet his grandfather, People's Artist Chau Loan, the late Mr. Nhuyen (Vinh Linh), who discovered his talent and nurtured him. Mr. Nhuyen's family owned a theatrical troupe south of Ben Hai Bridge. Due to the war, they were separated, with some going north and some south. Mr. Nhuyen carried his grandson, People's Artist Chau Loan, to the North to work at the Folk Song and Traditional Music Department of the Voice of Vietnam Radio. Having received early training from Mr. Nhuyen, during his secondary school years, Quoc Nam learned to play various musical instruments such as the two-stringed fiddle (nhị), zither (đàn bầu), bamboo flute, mandolin, guitar, and manzo. In 1970, he simultaneously studied the craft and assisted as a lecturer at the provincial art school. Later, Quoc Nam went to Hanoi for further studies. In 1977, he joined the Nghe-Tinh Cai Luong (traditional Vietnamese opera) Troupe as a flutist. After a year, he became the chief conductor, then the deputy head, and later the head of the Ha Tinh Song and Dance Drama Troupe.

During his time in the province from 1976 to 1991, Quoc Nam undertook field trips, collecting, composing, meeting, and becoming deeply involved with the rural areas that gave birth to the folk melodies of the Vi Giam style. Immersed in the rich tradition of Vi Giam, he was always driven to find ways to breathe new life into this traditional music within modern musical life. Therefore, he experimented and left his mark as a composer for many of the troupe's plays, such as: Kim Van Kieu, Nguoi Trong Ky Vong (a play about Phan Dinh Phung), Tong Tran Cuc Hoa, Hoa Khoi Day Chong... He also told stories about the people and land of his homeland through songs such as: Le Nao Quen Em (about the 10 girls at Dong Loc Crossroads), Huong Que (Homeland Fragrance), Nhung Ngoi Sao (Stars), Tuong Dai Cay Mau Tu (Mother Tree Monument), Non Nuoc Thien Cam (Thien Cam Mountains and Waters), Chon Que (Homeland), Doi Bo Vi Giam (Two Shores of Vi Giam)... In 2007, Quoc Nam was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist.

The song "The Ví Giặm Melody is You" - singers: Đăng Thuật, Bùi Lê Mận. Source: YouTube

Explaining the success of the song "The Ví Giặm Melody Is You," composer Quốc Nam believes it's because the song not only has a folk melody but also embodies a strong folk style, making it accessible, easy to sing, and relatable to listeners. The challenge in choosing the performance style was composing a song based on the Ví Giặm melody but with a new rhythm, avoiding "old-fashioned" elements and instead showcasing the beauty of the Ví Giặm melody on a modern musical rhythm.

“The Ví Giặm Melody is You” is written in A minor, harmonically with a 7th degree shift, 2/4 time signature, sung in 4/4 time, not following a march rhythm but rather a lyrical form. The song has a simple two-part structure. The first part, with 6 stylized lines on the Ví Giặm melody, begins with an Abitum rhythm, starting with “Then one afternoon I heard you sing folk songs…”, the second part from “You kept teasing me, neither giving nor taking.” The first part is in the A scale, the second part shifts to the G scale, changing the color but occasionally returning to the tonic A, creating a sense of completeness and tightness. The song runs on a light rumba tempo, using the tonic A scale close to the characteristics of Nghe An folk songs (La – Do – Mi), occasionally falling back to the tonic, which is an influence of the “downward-sloping” style in cải lương (Vietnamese traditional opera) that Quoc Nam has been somewhat involved with, creating a very natural encounter, blending and supporting each other. "The 'Vi Giam Melody is You' has evolved from the Vi Giam style to reach further, becoming more accessible to a wider range of regions. This is also how Quoc Nam both revives the spirit of his homeland for those living far away and repays the Southern land where the lyricist, Mr. Le Quang Thang, and other people from Nghe An living abroad gave him the inspiration to write this song."

Quoc Nam confided that, having dedicated his life to the Vi Giam folk songs, his daily motivation remains encapsulated in six words: "collecting," "preserving," and "developing" the value of this heritage. He constantly ponders how to help these folk songs soar to greater heights...

Ngo Kien